The Rangers will head to Arizona for spring training next week with more substantive questions about the club than perhaps at any time in the past decade. They are coming off just their second losing season since 2009 and looking up at a division that includes the defending world champions for the first time in 16 years.

Each day this week, we will examine one of the questions they will attempt to answer in the six weeks leading up to the March 29 opener against the world champion Houston Astros:

No. 1: Who will play left field?

The hunt for a regular left fielder rolls in to Year Five with no definitive leader among a handful of players to be this year's leading contender.

If anything, there are more candidates and less consensus.

Ryan Rua and Jurickson Profar were both part of a three-headed platoon that emerged from camp last year. It fell apart a month into the season. Rua and Profar both ended up spending a significant part of the season in the minors. Both are back this spring. Also: Willie Calhoun, acquired from Los Angeles in the Yu Darvish trade, and Drew Robinson. The quartet did nothing last year to imbue much confidence. They combined to start 45 games in left; the Rangers were 16-29 and averaged 3.7 runs in those games.

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The offense was significantly different when Delino DeShields played left. DeShields emerged as the team leader in games started in left with 57. They were 33-24 and averaged five runs per game. DeShields, however, will move to center for 2018.

Left field has become a long-term problem for the Rangers. They haven't had a player start more than half the team's games in left in a season since David Murphy in 2013. In the last four years, they rank 28th among the 30 MLB teams in OPS from left field.

A quick breakdown of the guys who will try to give the spot a little more stability this year:

Rua: The opening day starter in 2015 and the games started leader in left in 2016, Rua went backwards last season. He must show he can thump left-handed pitching and a career OPS of .741 for 267 plate appearances against them is definitely not thumping. What Rua does have going for him in the competition: He's probably the best defender of the four, and the only other guy who can swing right-handed is Profar, who has a .503 career OPS vs. lefties.

Robinson: To earn a spot on the opening day roster, Robinson is probably going to have to outplay Profar decidedly. Like Profar, he has value as a utility player. Like Profar, his offensive strength is as a left-handed hitter. Unlike Profar, however, he has minor league options remaining. That's a significant tiebreaker.

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Calhoun: The guy who topped the package the Rangers acquired for Yu Darvish hit .300 with 30 homers at Triple-A as a 22-year-old last year. There is no doubt he can hit. Defensively, though, he is still a work in progress. He's going to have to show much better feel for the outfield to give him a legitimate shot at breaking camp with the team. If there is anybody in this group who could still benefit by going to the minors and playing every day, even if its just for the first month or so of the season, it is Calhoun. But if his bat plays the way it should, he could force the Rangers' hand if the decision really does come down to merit based off spring performance.

Profar: Out of minor league options, the Rangers must either keep him on the roster, trade him or expose him to waivers. The chances of the last two are slim and none. If he's going to be on the roster, he probably needs to play to either restore value or free the Rangers up to move on.

Though he's a natural middle infielder and will likely be the backup at all four infield positions, those spots are spoken for on a regular basis. Left field would appear to be his best option for regular playing time. But the Rangers' initial intent with Profar is to keep him primarily in the infield and try to create more playing time for him there.

Another outfield option who really isn't is probably the Rangers' best defender in left field: Joey Gallo. The problem here is Gallo might be a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman. In addition, playing first - Gallo's desire - would keep him fresher than running around in the outfield. A happier, fresher Gallo probably means a more productive Gallo. And he's here to provide maximum offensive production. The Rangers will have to cobble together left field in some other manner.